By Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - As the Winter Olympics return to Italy this week, the host nation's men's hockey team will take to the ice as the tournament's biggest underdog - the only side
without NHL players in a field stacked with the sport's elite.
For the Azzurri, the Milano Cortina Games will be less about chasing medals and more about withstanding waves of speed and skill rarely encountered in their domestic competitions, while trying to seize rare moments that can electrify a home crowd.
The Italians are the only outfit in the 12-team field that did not compete at last year's World Championship. The last time they featured in the competition's top tier came in 2022 when they lost all seven matches.
Italy also rarely qualify for Olympic ice hockey on merit, and automatic entry as hosts has propelled a modest roster drawn mainly from Italian-based clubs into a tournament dominated by North American and Nordic powerhouses.
The majority of Italy's squad comes from HC Bolzano and HC Val Pusteria, two Italian clubs that compete in the International Central European Hockey League (ICEHL), a cross-border competition made up largely of Austrian teams alongside clubs from Hungary and Slovenia.
The remaining players are based in Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic and Sweden, while none compete in Italy's own domestic league, whose top tier is confined to a small geographic area.
Concentrated in Veneto and South Tyrol, Italian ice hockey remains largely confined to Alpine communities, with little reach into the country's broader sporting landscape.
Ice hockey attracts scant media attention in Italy, a situation unlikely to change during or after the Games, where the hosts' medal hopes rest largely on Alpine skiing, speed skating and curling.
Italy start on February 11 against Sweden, a nation with a rich Olympic hockey tradition and a roster packed with NHL talent. The Italians will also face defending champions Finland, with Slovakia the other side in Group B.
Sweden won gold when Italy last hosted the Games in 2006, which also marked Italy's most recent hockey appearance.
The Italians failed to win any of their five preliminary round matches, though a similar outcome this time would not spell the end of their campaign.
Under the current format, the top team in each group and the best second-placed side advance to the quarter-finals, while the remaining teams enter a qualification round, the stage on which Italy will focus its ambitions.
Italy coach Jukka Jalonen is the outlier in their set-up, bringing formidable Olympic credentials after leading his own nation Finland to gold four years ago. He has been careful to temper expectations, but his pragmatic approach could pay off.
"We know that after our three group matches there will be a knockout playoff match," Jalonen said when recently announcing his roster. That will have to be our goal."
Italy will hit the ice in Milan seemingly with nothing to lose but determined to lay down a marker for their sport on the domestic front and for themselves on the world stage.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris)
